From climate change to landfills: AI guarantees to resolve Earth's major environmental problems – but there's a catch

Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized our lives in some ways, from personalizing our social media feeds to providing directions to monitoring our health.

In recent years, hopes have grown that AI may even Help humanity, global environmental problems reminiscent of climate change.

AI is about using computers to think like humans, to resolve complex problems and process huge amounts of information.

However, this technology also comes with plenty of environmental costs. Here we weigh up the professionals and cons.

4 ways AI will help nature

Energy efficiency

AI systems can control and optimize energy consumption. For example, AI-supported “Smart Grid“Monitor and manage electricity generation to satisfy consumer demand. This can each reduce energy costs and enable more efficient energy use.

AI can even help optimize energy consumption in large business and industrial systems. For example, tech giant Google used AI to optimize energy consumption for cooling its Data centers by 40%.

Urban infrastructure

AI-driven waste management systems will help increase recycling rates. In the UK, for instance, recycling company Recycleye is using AI to Identify materials to separate waste, reduce contamination rates and increase recycling volumes – and thus reduce the pressure on landfills.

And AI-supported”Smart Cities“Technologies help public transport systems run more easily, which may reduce congestion and minimise vehicle emissions.”

Artificial intelligence can be used to enhance air quality in cities. IBM, for instance, uses the technology to
analyze weather and air pollution data from sensors and satellites. will help Authorities discover sources of pollution, make air quality forecasts and issue health warnings.

Sustainable agriculture

AI-supported intelligent machines, robots and sensors are already getting used in agriculture.

They allow real-time monitoring of weather, soil conditions and crop needs. This leads to raised water use and ensures that plants only get what they need.

The technology can even Identify peststhereby reducing the necessity to spray chemical pesticides on crops.

As climate change worsens, there may be hope that AI will help farmers avoid crop failures and construct resilience.

Environmental monitoring

AI systems can predict Floods, bushfires and other natural hazards quickly and accurately. This helps to minimise the impact of natural hazards on the environment and the population.

AI might be used to trace environmental changes. For example, changes in icebergs might be measured. 10,000 times faster as a human being.

Meanwhile, environmental organization The Nature Conservancy is using AI to minimize the environmental impacts of hydropower within the Amazon region.

But what in regards to the disadvantages?

The road to realizing the potential of AI is rocky – and the technology comes with several serious disadvantages, that are described below.

power consumption

Artificial intelligence is devouring a huge amount Energy. First, the pc models should be “trained” or fed with a big data set. This feeding might be done relatively quickly or as much as several months – during this time, large data processors run across the clock.

And once we ask AI to resolve an issue, it also requires computing power, which consumes energy. Advanced AI models like ChatGPT reportedly use ten times more energy per search than a traditional Google search, in response to one estimate. Only a small a part of this demand is met by renewable energy sources.

The International Energy Agency Projects Electricity consumption by data centers, AI and the cryptocurrency sector could double within the 4 years to 2026, from 460 terawatt hours in 2022 to over 1,000 terawatt hours in 2026.

For comparison: total electricity generation in Australia in 2022 was around 273 terawatt hours.

There is an urgent need for more environmentally friendly AI systems – and the opportunities for this are increasing. Studies have shown The energy consumption of AI-based computer models might be reduced in several ways, for instance by reducing the complexity of a model without compromising its performance.

Effects of water

The water requirement of AI is significant. Numerous heat is generated in the info centers where powerful AI servers run. Water is used for cooling to maintain the servers at operating temperature.

AI also uses water not directly through its energy consumption. Coal-fired power plants use water for cooling, and water can be lost through evaporation from hydropower projects.

And as others have noted, mining and manufacturing AI hardware consumes and pollutes water.

Greater environmental damage

The environmental impact of AI goes beyond energy consumption. As Scientific American, for instance, reportedExxonMobil partnered with Microsoft in 2019 to make use of AI in oil production to significantly increase production.

As the article also noted, the usage of AI in targeted internet advertising – on platforms like Instagram and Facebook – creates demand for material goods. This results in higher consumption of mass-produced products, which in turn creates carbon emissions and depletes the Earth's natural resources.

Where to now?

As AI becomes more integrated into our modern lives, its environmental footprint also grows. Humanity must find the suitable balance to be certain that AI helps the Earth, not harms it.

To higher achieve this, standard criteria should be developed to measure precisely the impact of AI on the environment.

There can be a Printing from some pages for more environmental regulation in the world of ​​AI and more transparency from corporations regarding their AI-related emissions.

However, efforts to make AI more environmentally friendly will meet with public and industry acceptance if the effectiveness of AI systems is sacrificed. To avoid this, greater collaboration between researchers and the AI ​​industry is required. is required.